DeviantART is getting a tremendous, positive response to our call for support for the application by DAdotART for the .ART domain.

We now have a special request for professional artists, art directors, creative directors, curators, educators and others employed directly in the arts to show their support in their professional capacities.

We also have a special request to members of the deviantART community who belong to organizations involved in the arts to submit an indication of support from the organization.

The idea of an address on the Internet ending in .ART is compelling to all of us in the arts. It would instantly verify an intention on the part of that location completely different than the intentions shown by a .com, .org or .net address. It seems certain that the .ART Top Level Domain will be awarded by ICANN. The question is: who or what will manage the policies and the pricings for addresses ending in .ART?

The application process is now closed. There are eleven applicants. Two have asked for a “community designation" - - and DAdotART, supported by deviantART, is one of the two. A community designation establishes that the domain is to be managed as a benefit to the community it represents.

DAdotART clearly commits in its application to include in its management representatives from all of the arts, artists of all kinds, museums, theaters, dance companies, music, literary and film societies, cultural organizations and representatives of government and international diplomatic organizations dedicated to culture and art preservation. Through deviantART, it is fair to say that our community has the most experience to bring to the table for the success of .ART.

If you and/or your organization can support this effort, please comment directly to ICANN on your own behalf as a professional and/or on behalf of the organization. You can also prepare a message of support on the organization’s letterhead and send a .PDF file to art@dadotart.com. We will then forward the letters on to ICANN. Alternately, you can comment on this Journal but comments to ICANN are preferred.

In your comments to ICANN, please indicate your involvement in the arts; your country of origin or operation; and a sense of why a .ART TLD managed under the aegis of DAdotART would succeed in the purpose of serving the arts community worldwide. Comments and letters to ICANN in your native language are particularly welcomed.

There is a time deadline which has now been extended to September 26, 2012 ,

Having a .art domain does sound worth while, but I think having an entity like DA in charge of it is a bad idea. I mean, what if someone wants to register a site that competes with DA or one that hosts content that falls outside the stuff DA suggests? Both of those things should be allowed on a .art domain, but if DA's the one controlling it there's a non-zero chance of them trying to stop those kinds of sites. Overall it seems far to ripe for abuse.